SOLVED-Newbie -Did not Winterize Properly (see post 54)

[Capsfloyd]

We are in Texas , not up north .
We do the air compressor also . Open all the drains , drain water heater , tanks , toilet , outside shower , outside kitchen sink .
Close everything up , hook up air compressor and start over again opening and closing each one .

We have a ceramic heater with thermostat and set it at 45 degrees and open all the cabinets and doors

We did get down to 15 degrees in 2019

Good luck 👍

[nrkmann]

Just my two cents worth.

Do not pressurize your system with water if you have any chance of having a leak. If you have a split pipe you are just asking for big mess to clean up, the starting of mold and mildew, and rot.

After checking my tires I pressurize the plumbing with air to 60 lbs (this is the pressure my dealer uses because that is the max a Camco pressure regulator will let through at a rated 45psi plus or minus 15 psi.). The system should hold this pressure without issues for 30 minutes.

Nice thing with air is you will hear small leaks easily.

If you have to repair this is a time to fix the mess that manufacturers consider plumbing. Put in 100% PEX (only needs one tool to crimp all sizes and one to cut, about $35 on Amazon) and even if some water gets left in the line the PEX will expand to accommodate the freezing. If you see a swollen PEX pipe heat it a little with a torch and it will shrink back to size. While you are at it put in a couple of drain valves to the outside like by the toilet (in my trailer this is between the bathroom sink and the toilet so it is at the natural low spot along the line.) so the toilet valve and bathroom sink faucet can be drained and dried out.

Plan a good about of time for this rebuild (I have 40-60 hours into this) as you will be taking a lot of you kitchen and bath apart and tell the DW to be somewhere else as the air may turn blue. After this if you know anything about construction and plumbing you will swear on a stack of bibles that the RV manufacturer does not.

[Tony K]

Air pressure winterizing is all you need, if you use antifreeze then you have the hassle of flushing it all out if you drink from the faucets.

[jcschultz01]

Regarding blowing out the airlines, I recall my manual for an Arctic Wolf said 30psi max.

But using RV antifreeze is SOOOOO much easier if you have a freshwater tank and a pump.

So I just bypass the hotwater heater, pull out the hot water heater plug and drain it and then just switch the bypass valve to pull from a gallon of RV antifreeze rather than the fresh water tank and turn the RV pump on. Go around and open all the faucets, toilet, shower and the outside shower.

When they run pink you are done. I usually dump more antifreeze into the traps too but probably not necessary.

Fast and costs about $5 for 2 gallons when you buy RV antifreeze on sale.

[Jan Gerstner.]

You probably got it all, or nearly so. The toilet is one you want to be sure of. We blow out the lines, the use the water pump to suck up antifreeze and pump it through the system. We have a 2014 Forester (Class C).
It did not come with a bypass for sucking up antifreeze so I installed my own. Just don't forget to bypass your water heater. We thoroughly drain the fresh water tank, and dump the grey and black tanks. We then put a good quart of antifreeze through the toilet opening directly into the black tank. That is because I read of a member whose dump valve and "Y" connections froze.
We live in Wisconsin and -20F is common in winter.

[amx1397]

remove the hot water element, let it drain all the way you can use a little air to help it. reinstall the element close all your faucets, fill the system to 40 Psi open one faucet at a time hot then cold, refill with air or have your compresser set at 40 Psi, do this for the toilets and every faucet in the camper
open the drain on the fresh water tank this may take a few hours to drain
you should only need antifreeze in the drains (sink, shower, and toilet)
when ready to put back in service ,,,put 40 psi of air on your system and let it sit for 15 to 30 min. if the air does not go down you have no leaks
if the air goes down,,finf out where and fix that on to the next ...jim

[Egalt]

Originally Posted by draymond

In the fall we tried several times to winterize our new Forest River Salem 27DBUD. We drained the hot water tank and used the air compressor to blow out the water lines. We just couldn't figure out how to get the anti freeze in...soooo. it has gone through the winter without it. I put some down the sink drains, shower drain and into the toilet. Now that spring it approaching I am terrified to find out how much damage was caused to the water lines. If I had known about this forum back then I am sure I could have had plenty of help. What are my chances that there is no damage?

So to look into the real problem...

Did you ever figure out how to get the anti-freeze into your system?

[vickyr]

I think your 1st ? is how to get antifreeze in. I bought a hand pump that has a tube that goes down into the antifreeze bottle. Hook it to your water supply spigot and pump. One person inside goes from faucet to faucet turning it on until pink comes out. I found this pump on Amazon. It was under $20.00 Good luck

[Le Whaley]

I camped a few times and didn't winterize. The connection at the city line still cracked and had to be fixed.

[NJKris]

Thus the need to winterize in freezing temps!

[Le Whaley]

Yeah I thought I had camped enough.

[draymond]

We have not yet had to figure out the antifreeze issue...that will be for another time. Just waiting for nicer weather to open up the slide and start the water leak testing process from info we received here.

[McDaddy]

Alot of people forget to do toilet .

[draymond]

I am finally updating my original post on not winterizing with anti freeze. Well...the force must have been with me. This weekend we checked the lines again with air and just decided to go with hooking up our water. There were absolutely no leaks in the lines, traps or any issues with the toilet. I thank you all for your responses to my post.

[PenJoe]

Originally Posted by draymond

I am finally updating my original post on not winterizing with anti freeze. Well...the force must have been with me. This weekend we checked the lines again with air and just decided to go with hooking up our water. There were absolutely no leaks in the lines, traps or any issues with the toilet. I thank you all for your responses to my post.

Great news! We all appreciate the update. Happy camping!

[A32Deuce]

Glad all was good!

[NJKris]

I did air only (other than drains, toilet bowl), hoping I have same results. One thing I did forget (and yes, it was full of water, like others said) was the strainer on the water pump. I unscrewed it and does not appear cracked, but will find out if I need a new one when I summerize and pressurize, if that happens at all this year.

[A32Deuce]

I found when winterizing, I tilt the RV to the drain side a little. When done draining, I run the water pump for a couple minutes. It empties the sediment filter, pump and half the water in the filter housing. Easy to take filter out and put the housing back on and blow out the system 3 times.

[NJKris]

despite a meticulous air purge, the pump strainer remains full, even after bumping pump several times to make sure the pump is empty.

[5picker]

Originally Posted by NJKris

despite a meticulous air purge, the pump strainer remains full, even after bumping pump several times to make sure the pump is empty.

It seems hit or miss on the technique Kris.

I've done plenty R/Vs where running the pump pulled the water from the suction/strainer and just as many or maybe more where it didn't, just as you have indicated.

I've gotten into the habit (for those folks not wanting to use antifreeze in their systems) of using a short piece of garden hose connected either to the antifreeze inlet port (with the pump's valve turned correctly for winterization) or directly to the suction strainer by removing the suction line and blowing on the hose with just my mouth while the pump runs a few seconds.

Pushes the water right out.

Of course... if you use antifreeze, you take no chances you got all the water out.